


ashes, ashes, we all fall down

by astarisms



Category: The Daevabad Trilogy - S. A. Chakraborty
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, F/M, and he never died, and idk man its not a happy ending but its better than him becoming manizhehs slave, and nahri talked dara down from leaving in city of brass, in which ali never knocked on the fucking door
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-23
Updated: 2019-06-10
Packaged: 2020-03-13 06:09:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,980
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18935014
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/astarisms/pseuds/astarisms
Summary: “I made my case for the one I wished to marry,” she said, softening her voice though she held his eyes, almost painfully with how they brightened at her words, “and I can’t have him. But at least this way… I will be safe. And I can keep him safe, too.”





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> The first bit is pulled directly from the book in order to set the scene. The bolded line signifies the end of Shannon’s writing and the beginning of mine.

“You don’t have to do this, Nahri. I’m not going to let them—”

“ _ I don’t need you to save me! _ ” Nahri jerked her hand away. “Dara, do you listen to anything I say?  _ I  _ started marriage negotiations.  _ I  _ went to the king.” She threw up her hands. “What are you even saving me from? Becoming the future queen of Daevabad?”

He looked incredulous. “And the price, Nahri?”

Nahri swallowed back the lump that rose in her throat. “You said it yourself: I’m the last Nahid. I’m going to need children.” She forced a shrug, but couldn’t keep the bitterness entirely out of her voice. “I might as well make the best strategic match.”

" _The_ _ best strategic match _ ,” Dara repeated. “With a man who doesn’t respect you? A family that will always view you with suspicion?  _ That’s  _ what you want?” 

_ No. _ But Nahri had made clear her feelings for Dara. He’d rejected them.

And in her heart she knew she was starting to want more in Daevabad than just him. 

She took a deep breath, forcing some calm into her voice. “Dara… this doesn’t have to be a bad thing. I’ll be  _ safe _ . I’ll have all the time and resources to properly train.” Her throat caught. “In another century, there might very well be a Nahid on the throne again.” She glanced up at him, her eyes wet despite her best effort to check her tears. “Isn’t that what you want?” 

**Dara stared at her. Nahri could see the emotions warring in his expression.**

She reached out, taking his hand again with both of hers. “I made my case for the one I wished to marry,” she said, softening her voice though she held his eyes, almost painfully with how they brightened at her words, “and I can’t have him. But at least this way… I will be safe,” she repeated. “And I can keep him safe, too.”

His face twisted in anguish and he dropped his head.

“ _ I _ should have been the one keeping  _ you _ safe,” he said, with no small amount of grief. Nahri shifted closer to him, squeezing his fingers.

“You  _ have _ ,” she insisted. “The ifrit will never find me here. I live in a palace. I’m going to marry a prince,” her breath caught on the words, but she plowed forward before he could comment on it. “You’ve ensured my safety for the rest of my life.”

“I’ve as good as signed your jail sentence,” he said bitterly, raising his head again to look at her. 

Nahri forced a smile. “Marriage to Muntadhir is only a title, Dara. One with more benefits than disadvantages, I assure you.”

Dara laughed then, a breathy, dry thing void of any humor. 

“So you’ve thought this through, then?”

“Extensively. That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you.” She examined his face, her smile slipping but her expression remaining soft. “I can make my own decisions, Dara. I wish you weren’t so quick to jump to the conclusion that I don’t know what I’m doing.”

“I’m not—” Nahri cut him a look, and he closed his mouth, his jaw working, then opened it again. “Just a few months ago, you didn’t even know what you were. You don’t know this world like I do.”

“Maybe not,” Nahri acquiesced. “But I never will unless you let me make my own mistakes. I handled myself just fine while you were off chasing ifrit–” he had the good sense to look abashed here, “and I’ll handle myself just fine from here on out.” 

He looked down again, at their hands, his shoulders dropping in defeat as he recognized the truth in her words. The tension Nahri had been holding since he’d first claimed they were leaving slowly began to leave her as her heart fell into its normal rhythm.

“That being said,” she began haltingly, watching him carefully, “I would still very much like it if you remained here. With me.”

He looked up sharply and she didn’t have to force her smile this time.

“After all, what’s a Nahid without an Afshin?”

Dara’s eyes brightened, burning something fierce. He was still reluctant to accept the fate she’d assigned herself, she could tell, but before he even spoke she knew that he would stay here, by her side. Her relief was almost palpable.

“It would be an honor, Banu Nahri.”

  
  
  



	2. Chapter 2

“That’s my final offer,” Nahri said, lifting her chin. Ghassan stared down at her, managing to make her feel small even though he was sitting across from her while she stood, but Dara’s presence at her back was reassuring. 

“This is ridiculous.” Nahri’s eyes flicked to Muntadhir where he stood at his father’s shoulder, looking over her list of demands with barely concealed disbelief. “This price, for a common thief raised among humans?”

“This price for the union with the last remaining Nahid,” Dara cut in smoothly behind her. There was an edge to his voice, but she kept her eyes trained on the Qahtanis. 

Now was not the time to show dependency on her Afshin. Her proposal for keeping him with her hadn’t been grounded in her own emotional needs, and she wasn’t about to give them any reason to doubt her.

Muntadhir was glaring at him. Nahri clasped her hands to draw the attention back towards her.

“I may not have been in the city very long, but even I can tell things are… tense,” she said, looking between the father and son. “My marrying Muntadhir would not only secure your alliance to the only living Daeva with a valid claim to the throne, but also quell the unrest in the Daeva and shafit quarters. Seeing a Nahid allied with the Qahtanis will give the Daeva some comfort. And since I look shafit and was raised among humans, well...”

She spread her hands as she trailed off, sure she had gotten her point well enough across. Her audience was silent for a minute, considering her and her offer.

Her hands dropped back to her sides and she had to fight to keep them from twitching restlessly or reaching back for Dara as Muntadhir and Ghassan shared a long look. Muntadhir still looked displeased, but his eyes were conflicted as they flicked back towards the list.

Ghassan raised an eyebrow at his eldest. After a moment, he gave the barest, nearly imperceptible tilt of his head, but Nahri had a feeling the king hadn’t been waiting for permission, only for his son to see reason.

“Very well. We accept your offer, Banu Nahri.” Ghassan finally said as he returned his heavy gaze to her. “The dowry is yours. The Afshin can remain as your bodyguard. You will continue your training with Nisreen, and when you reach your first quarter century, you will be married to my son.”

“And?” Nahri prompted, knowing there was something else on her list that he had left out.

“And I will not take another wife so long as our marriage vows remain unbroken,” Muntadhir said, though he didn’t sound particularly upset about it. She supposed as long as he was entitled to his mistresses he would be content.

Fine by her. The less time she had to spend in his bed, the better.

For the first time since walking into the study, Nahri allowed herself to relax. This was all going exactly according to her plan.

“I’m glad we’re all in agreement.” She smiled at the two of them. “Now, where do I sign?”

x

She didn’t slow down until she reached the infirmary, though it wasn’t as if the warrior at her side had any trouble keeping up with her breakneck pace.

“I can’t believe that went so well,” she breathed once the door shut behind them, turning to grin at him. “We got everything we wanted!”

Dara smiled back at her, but it didn’t reach his eyes. The bright green was as dull as she’d ever seen them, and her own smile slipped a little. She knew he still wasn’t happy with this arrangement — perhaps would never be — but she was doing the best she could with the hand she’d been dealt.

“I expected nothing less,” he said, and his voice, at least, seemed sincere. “You are a very difficult person to say no to.”

“I don’t know,” she teased, trying to shake that solemnity from his expression. “You seemed to be pretty good at that on our carpet ride over.”

It seemed to work, because the look he gave her was warm enough to have her feeling like melted butter.

“I said difficult, not impossible.”

She rolled her eyes goodnaturedly as she turned her back on him to cross the room, towards her patients’ sickbeds.

“Okay, O Great Warrior,” she threw over her shoulder. “I have patients to tend to. Don’t you have something better to be doing?”

“Not particularly,” he said, but at her glare he raised his hands in surrender. “But I’m certain I can find something to occupy my time. Banu Nahida.” He bowed his head by way of a goodbye, and dipped out of the room.

Nahri sighed as she watched him leave. She knew they still needed to talk. They had never resolved what had been said — and  _ not  _ said — at the temple that day, or discussed his whirlwind escape attempt in her room the other night, but with everything else that had been happening, with Ali’s injury and trying to run the infirmary and the marriage negotiations, it hadn’t felt like the right time to rehash all that was between them. She had taken great comfort in having him back as a friend in the midst of the chaos that was currently the rest of her life.

He was her only constant here, and though she’d gotten on fine without him in the months following their arrival, she had missed him terribly. Despite everything, all their arguments and his secrecy regarding his past and their requited but messy feelings, his companionship was still the least complicated of her very tangled web of relationships right now. She didn’t know if she could do this all without him — and she didn’t want to.

“Have you reconciled with your Afshin?” Nisreen asked as she approached, and Nahri startled at her intuition.

“We… Sort of. It’s complicated.” She pulled on a pair of gloves and steeled herself for whatever magical ailment she would be exposed to today, but Nisreen stopped her with a hand on her elbow. Nahri looked up at her mentor, surprised at the intensity in her eyes.

“Dara is one of the only true allies you have in this place, Nahri,” she said, her voice low.

Nahri blinked, then looked down. “I know that.“

“If you know that, then you must know you need to deal with whatever complications there are between you soon. He has his flaws, but you have his absolute loyalty. That’s invaluable in a place like this.”

Nahri gently pried Nisreen’s fingers from her arm, looking up at her again.

“I’m fully aware I have his loyalty.” She tried to gentle her voice, to match Nisreen’s tone, but she couldn’t entirely keep the bitterness out of her voice. “I’m just… I’m not entirely sure I can trust him.”

Nisreen looked surprised at that, and Nahri took the opportunity to explain herself.

“He’s been keeping things from me. I don’t know—”

“Darayavahoush has a very dark, very well known past,” Nisreen cut in, “and as of right now, you are the only one who doesn’t look at him and see his actions, only the man. Give him time.”

Nahri frowned, wondering how much more time he could need, but she remembered the grief in those eyes whenever it was brought up and she sighed, nodding.

“Now, tell me, how did your marriage negotiations go?” Nisreen asked, suddenly changing the topic as she led Nahri towards the first bed.


End file.
